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May 12, 2008

NEWS: Trustee Blog

Few people know that Benjamin Hodge, Johnson County Community College Trustee and former Kansas 49th District Representative, is a blogger.According to Kansas Progress, Hodge's blog, its purpose is to "inform, to connect, and to motivate. We hope to promote policies that encourage government to be: limited in size, effective, efficient, and accountable to the people."When he launched the site in 2005, Hodge posted a message on the University of Missouri-Kansas City's student newspaper forum saying he and four friends created the news site and that the KP blog was part of his graduate course studies.Today KP blog editors have narrowed to Hodge and three others. They include: Tim Anderson, Hodge's campaign treasurer; Paul Norman of Victory Enterprises, a Midwest political consulting and polling firm; and Brian T. Johnson, a political communications consultant in Jefferson City, Mo.An e-mail from Hodge requesting subscribers says part of the mission for the blog is to build a subscriber base that will attract advertisers. Perhaps he means campaign contributors.An April 9 KP blog posting by "Editor" reads:

"Some think that Hodge will run against incumbent Democratic State Representative Sue Storm."

However, the posting has been removed and replaced with a post dated 12/31/1969 6:00:00 pm. It is still available via Google's Cache.A quick Internet search reveals Hodge isn't just a contributor to the KP but the domain owner. Hodge's other domain, benjaminhodge.com, serves as his campaign site.

Hodge joins a growing list of JCCC bloggers some of which will be featured in upcoming posts.

Miguel M. Morales

Miguel grew up in Texas working as a migrant and seasonal farmworker. He is a Lambda Literary Fellow, a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop, and a VONA/Voices alum. Miguel also serves as president of the Latino Writers Collective.